Arizona House Speaker Decries Attempts To Overturn Election

ARIZONA — A high-ranking Arizona Republican is speaking out against pleas from members of his own party seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

House Speaker Rusty Bowers released a statement Friday confirming that the state's legislative body will not withhold its 11 Electoral College votes in support of President Donald Trump and effectively overturn the election.

The state’s election results were certified on Monday, showing President-elect Joe Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. The Electoral College is scheduled to meet on Dec. 14.

"As a conservative Republican, I don’t like the results of the presidential election," Bowers wrote. "I voted for President Trump and worked hard to reelect him. But I cannot and will not entertain a suggestion that we violate current law to change the outcome of a certified election."

Lawyers for the Trump campaign, including Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, have asked for the election results to be overturned twice this week. One instance occurred at an unofficial gathering at a downtown Phoenix hotel, which the president called into to allege fraud in Maricopa County.

No evidence of voter fraud or election fraud has emerged during this election season in Arizona. U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr has said the Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the election.

Four election challenges in Maricopa County were dismissed, including one filed by the Arizona Republican Party that sought to determine whether voting machines were hacked. One, filed by Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward, will be decided by a judge Friday.

In defending the county, attorney Thomas Liddy said no evidence that was presented in court would justify overturning an entire election. Over three million Arizonans voted in the 2020 election.

“There is no way any of this evidence could justify throwing out the votes of the people of Arizona because somebody didn’t like the results,” Liddy said Friday.

Bowers addressed allegations of fraud in his statement and touched on how the Legislature can and cannot act.

"Even if such evidence existed, the Arizona Legislature simply couldn’t do what is being asked," Bowers continued. "Under our state’s constitution, the Legislature can act only when it is in session, and the Legislature could call itself into a special session only with the support of a bipartisan supermajority of its members."

That likely won't happen, according to Bowers. A 2016 Republican-backed law requires electors to cast their votes for the candidate who won the state.

"Our state’s canvass was completed on Monday, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris received the
most votes, so those are the candidates whom the state’s presidential electors must vote for," Bowers said.

The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.